Authors and analysts Derek and Sharon Gilbert host a weekly Bible study, going verse by verse through the scriptures in chronological order. Each study is about an hour in length and posted Sundays around Noon Central Time.
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Gilbert House Fellowship #209: Daniel 5
TODAY WE discuss the fall of Babylon. It wasn't just divine punishment for the hubris of King Belshazzar; this was a smackdown in the spirit realm.
Interestingly, the target of God's wrath wasn't Marduk, city-god of Babylon and head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, it was the moon-god, Sîn. Belshazzar's father, Nabonidus, was the king of Babylon in 539 B.C., but he'd been living at Teima, an oasis in Arabia that was a center of the moon-god cult. Nabonidus was from Harran, another major center of moon-god worship, and his mother was a priestess in the temple of Sîn there.
Nabonidus had been pushing to replace Marduk in the top spot in the pantheon at Babylon with Sîn, and there is good historical and archaeological evidence to believe that Belshazzar's drunken feast -- with the sacred utensils that had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple in Jerusalem in 587 or 586 B.C. -- was the fall /akitu/ festival, held every year in honor of the moon-god.
It also coincided with Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, arguably the most important annual festival establish by God at Sinai -- the mountain named for the moon-god.
In short, the writing on the wall was God's judgment on Babylon, of course, but more importantly it was a clear message to the fallen entity who was worshiped as the moon-god. The night of Belshazzar's feast was the last night of freedom for Babylon, a kingdom founded and ruled by worshipers of the moon-god.
Here is the link to the paper Derek mentioned during the study, "Belshazzar's Feast and the Cult of the Moon God Sîn" by Al Wolters: http://bit.ly/2Djl68A
Hey, we can send these studies directly to your phone, tablet, or iPod! Download our free mobile app for iOS and Android. Links to the iTunes App Store and Google Play are on the main page at www.GilbertHouse.org.
Big news: Pastor Carl Gallups, messianic rabbi Zev Porat, and Justen & Wes Faull are part of the 2019 SkyWatchTV Wars of the Gods Tour of Israel!
The tour flies from New York City to Tel Aviv Sunday, May 12, 2019, and returns Thursday, May 23. If you want to extend your trip a few days to join us in Jordan, you'd return Monday, May 27, 2019. For more information, log on to www.LipkinTours.com.
Book Four of Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga, Realms of Stone, is available now at Amazon!
Here are the links for Book Three of The Redwing Saga, The Blood is the Life; Book Two, Blood Rites; and Blood Lies: Book One of The Redwing Saga. Visit Sharon’s author page at Amazon.com for more.
Derek's new book Last Clash of the Titans is shipping now! For more information, log on to www.LastClashOfTheTitans.com.
Click here for the complete archive of our New Testament Bible studies to date, and click here for the Old Testament studies to date. Or go to www.spreaker.com/show/gilbert-house-fellowship for all of the audio.